Avatar: Tides of Chaos
by Ciloron
Summary: The world never really was a peaceful place. A great threat occured more than a thousand years before Sozin's Comet, a war that would throw the world out of balance if it weren't for that one Avatar. This is his story.
1. Prologue

**This 'll be my first ATLA story. *pops bottle of champagne***

**For the record, this story will take place approximately a thousand years before Aang in born. Those who will read this story will follow an Earth-Avatar on his journey to save the world from the ever present evil. (The second Earth-Avatar before Kyoshi.)**

**There will be three Avatars of great importance in this story whit the main character being one of them. The other two are Damai Tenang and Kali. Damai Tenang being a powerful Air-Avatar and Kali the predecessor of the current Avatar.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own ATLA**

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Fire

Air

Water

Earth

Even before history was written down for the first time, the Avatar walked among the common people. His duty was to protect and serve, keep order and maintain the essential balance of all things in the world. He formed the bridge between men and spirit and was the embodiment of the four elements: water, earth, fire and air.

In the course of history, many Avatars prevented wars or stopped great evils threatening to throw the world out of balance. The last great Avatar, Damai Tenang, lead the world into a great era of peace by reforming his own nation from a warlike rabble to compassionate caregivers. The many Avatars that came after him only had to remain watchful and the world wouldn't be thrown into chaos. Sadly, this peace didn't last as long as everyone thought it would. Even though Damai Tenang had reformed the Air Nation into a peace loving nation of nomads, the rest of the world still felt a grudge for what happened in the past.

Even though the peace lasted more than eight hundred years, the situation finally came to an explosion under a lazy Avatar from the Air Nomads. During his time as the Avatar, people from the Fire Nation and from the numerous Water Tribes started to forge their plans to take revenge. The Fire Nation first achieved revenge in the year we know as 1101 Before Sozin's Comet, by murdering the Avatar during his stay with the Royal Family. The death of the hated Avatar sated the thirst for revenge for the people of the Fire Nation, but the Water Tribes… they weren't satisfied at all.

Upon his death, the Avatar was reincarnated into a Water Tribe girl, one from the Archipelagic Tribe, also known as the Western Water Tribe. Her name was Kali and during her time, the Water Tribes proceeded with their plan of revenge in secrecy. Kali grew out to be a powerful Avatar, mastering every element and the Avatar State when she was twenty-eight. The Tribes' leaders started to approach Kali and told her of their plan when Kali hit the age of thirty-one. It was on that day that Kali denounced the persons she once thought to be the greatest leaders she'd ever know. It was on that day that five of the seven tribe leaders fought with the Avatar and killed her. Upon Avatar Kali's death, a boy was born in the Earth-Kingdom. This happened during the days of Earth King Yi Ming.

With the Avatar being reborn, the Water Tribes saw their chance of bringing their plan into action. If it wasn't due to the poor planning from their part, the world would have been flooded by the Tribes' might; it would take at least fifteen years for their plan to be put into action. The fate of the entire world now lays in the young hands of this new Avatar, who will be fighting one of the greatest threats ever to be known to men.

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**It's a small prologue and I hope it gives enough information for now to set the tone of the upcoming story.**

**I do have two small things to add, namely the translations of two names:  
Kali is Indonesian for time and river.  
Damai Tenang can be translated as calm/quiet/peace.**

**Please review, tips, critics and suggestions are welcome. Questions are welcome likewise.**


	2. An Avatar has been born

**Another very short chapter. I promise they will get a larger, but there wasn't much left to add in this chapter.**

**Read and review, but mostly enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Avatar**

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Chapter 1: An Avatar has been born

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South Pole, 1070 BSC

"You might strike me down here and now, but you know as well as I do that I will return to bring you down." a woman in her early thirties said as she was kneeling in front of an old man, hands tied behind her back.

The man, he seemed to be in his late sixties, only quirked an eyebrow at her. "Avatar Kali, your threats mean nothing to me. In fact, I think it's rather shameful for an Avatar to resort to threatening when her life is in danger."

The other four men, who were standing behind her for the entire time, closed in on her now. One of them she knew quite well, since he had been her friend when they were kids. It was him, who stabbed first. She stood up and remained standing throughout the entire gruesome onslaught, not shedding any tears nor saying a word. The four men kept slashing into her, but she stood there defiantly; she was looking into the fifth man's eyes the whole time. Eventually she collapsed and sighed for the last time in her life.

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Hia-Pao, a southern village in the Earth Kingdom

"Look Ilu, this is our son." a proud father stroked his wife's hair, while a nurse showed her the newborn boy. The mother, exhausted from giving birth, faintly smiled.

"We'd better give her some time to rest, it has been a difficult delivery and she's utterly exhausted." another nurse quietly whispered in the father's ear.

"Give us just one more moment," the father spoke, "we still need to give him a name."

"Very well, but make it quick; she really needs to rest." The nurse stepped back quietly.

"Dear, how shall we name him?" the father asked through the noise of the crying baby.

Ilu slowly turned her head towards her husband and looked him in the eyes. She swallowed, her throat was dry. After a deep sigh she said: "Kukuh, we'll call him Kukuh."

The nurses gave each other a weird look. "What an unusual name." one of them whispered.

The father wanted to say something, but he was interrupted by his wife.

"You told me that I got to choose his name, this is the name I want for him. He will be strong, steadfast and maybe a bit stubborn, just like his name says."

"If that is what you want, dear…" the father said.

"It's what I want, Sui."

"Then Kukuh his name shall be."

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Royal Palace, Ba Sing Se, Winter 1069 BSC

"My king, the sages have requested an audience."

"When they wake me up in the middle of the night it must be something of great importance. Bring them before me!" Earth King Yi Ming commanded.

Five old men clad in emerald robes entered the large throne room of the gigantic palace of the Earth King. Their faces were blank, although one of the five men seemed to be sad for some reason. They kneeled before the stairs leading to the throne, Yi Ming tapped his fingers impatiently on the armrest of his throne.

"Speak up," he commanded, "I want to know what was so important to wake me up in the middle of the night."

"My king," Chang, the eldest of the sages, started, "we are here to inform you about the death of our beloved Avatar Kali. She was brutally murdered during her visit to the Southern Water Tribe."

The Earth King blinked, his feelings were mixed. Some part of him mourned about the loss of a dedicated and kind Avatar, the other part rejoiced for he knew that the new Avatar must have been born in his kingdom. He rose from his throne and stood on the upper steps of the stairs.

"Start the search for the new Avatar," he said after a deep sigh, "I don't care how you do it, just find him."

The sages bowed deeply and left the throne room, walking in a straight line. Their heads tilted high, their hands in their large sleeves.

"Send word to Omashu and Taku, they need to know about this so they can start their own searches." Yi Ming said to his manservant. The person in question bowed deeply and walked away, still deeply bowing towards his king.

"It couldn't have happened at a worse time…" Yi Ming muttered as he entered his bedroom.

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**Well, that's chapter one. Nothing excting yet, but not every story begins with a lot of action.**

**Kukuh is another Indonesian word (it's like Bumi, that means earth)  
Kukuh means strong/steadfast/headstrong and a lot of other things, but I find those three to be the most important translations.**

**I hope you've enjoyed this small chapter, review on your way out and expect larger chapters coming up. (I can't promise if the next chapter will be much longer, but we'll see.)**


	3. King Batu's test

**Yay, a chapter with more than two thousand words. That's more like it, no? **

**Hmmmm... yeah... don't got much to say...**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own A:TLA (last time I checked anyway)**

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Chapter 2: King Batu's test

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Southern Earth Kingdom provinces, Summer 1069

Sui and his wife Ilu were making their way to Omashu, the largest city in the southern provinces of the Earth Kingdom. Every family with a son or daughter between two years and three months old were summoned to that great city in the mountains.

"Why do we need to go, dear?" Ilu asked her husband who was leading the ostrich horse she sat upon over the dusty roads.

"Because…" Sui sighed, "because rumors say the Avatar has been killed."

Ilu was shocked by the news, she didn't know a thing about this. For the last months she had been recovering from giving birth to her son, because for some reason it had been a very difficult and energy draining one.

"H-how could that have happened…" she stumbled. She remembered the days when she was just a little girl, the days when her father told her about the lazy Avatar and how the new, young Avatar Kali was so much better than her predecessor. Now she'd found out that that person, someone she admired because of keeping the fragile peace in these difficult times, was dead.

"They say she was murdered during her visit to the Southern Water Tribe, killed by her own kin." Sui sadly shook his head.

"Do they think Kukuh is the new Avatar?" Ilu asked with a tinge of fear in her voice.

"Right now, they think every newborn in the entire Earth Kingdom is the Avatar, so every child must be tested." Sui scoffed. "Some say the Earth King is going mad. They say he's so anxious to find out which one of his servants will be the next Avatar."

"T-tested?" Ilu repeated questioningly.

Sui nodded. "It's not dangerous…" he quickly said, seeing as what he said frightened his wife even more.

"Being an Avatar is dangerous these days!" she snapped.

"Don't worry dear, I'm sure our son isn't the one they're searching for. I even bet the Avatar is girl like Kali." Sui said reassuringly.

Ilu kept her son closer to her from that moment forth, she refused to let go of him during the entire journey. Whatever Sui tried, he couldn't make Ilu let go of her son.

"I will make sure nothing ever happens to you my dear Kukuh." she would whisper every night.

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After a few days of travel, Sui and Ilu started to meet up with other families traveling towards Omashu. On the way the heard the latest rumors and so they found out that the search in the northern part of the kingdom and the search in and around Ba Sing Se had come to an end. The Avatar hadn't been born in the regions near Taku or Ba Sing Se, it was certain that the Avatar was born in the regions near Omashu.

Ilu started to grow more fearful as some travelers told the latest details on Kali's murder. They said that she had been stabbed thirty-one times. They said when Kali had already died, they continued mutilating her body. Some even claimed that she was decapitated and her head was now decorating the hall of one of the Tribes' leaders. Another traveler claimed that her body was used to feed a wild pack of polar dogs.

Eventually after two weeks of travelling through the vast lands of the kingdom and the Kolau Mountains, the couple and their son arrived at the final mountain that blocked the way to the great Earth Kingdom city. At the foot of that mountain, Sui and his wife Ilu spent the night before they would enter the city. That night Ilu dreamt.

She saw a man, dressed in luxurious robes with different shades of green, beige, yellow and white. His hair was brown and long and a knot, with what looked like a royal hairpiece attached to it, crowned his head. His face was that of a handsome man with a small mustache and beard. He stood there on top of a rock between armies fighting for their lives; his eyes were closed, until they finally opened. Ilu woke up, gasping. What she'd seen was more intense than she could ever imagine. She knew for sure that she had seen the new Avatar in her dream, but did that mean her son was the one? It surely was a man.

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"Cabbages, fresh cabbages!" a merchant yelled from across the crowded streets of Omashu. Business was good in Omashu now a lot of families had come to the city to test their children.

The guards at the gates of the city had told Sui and his wife to make their way to the palace. The palace would be the place where the testing would take place. King Batu would be present at the testing itself. Ilu wondered what the test would be; during their journey towards the great city of Omashu, a man told her and her husband that the test would be a painful one for babies who aren't the Avatar. He said that the children would be thrown into the fire and the one untouched by the flames would be the Avatar. She shuddered at the thought of seeing her boy thrown into the flames.

King Batu sat on his throne, waiting for his servants to tell him everything was ready so he could begin the test to find out who is the new Avatar. His kingdom, a province to the great Earth Kingdom, is the place where the new Avatar has been born. The entire kingdom was waiting for him to announce the name of the new Avatar, something which made him feel proud. Not only did he govern the Earth Kingdom's second most important city, but his kingdom was the home of the Avatar.

A slender young man brought the old king back from his thoughts into reality. "Sire, everything is ready, the people are waiting."

The aged man stood up from his throne and walked, accompanied by his servant who supported him with walking, through the large halls of his palace. At last he came to the balcony, overlooking an arena filled with babies, toddlers and somewhat frightened parents. He sat back on a chair and looked intently at the filled arena. After a few minutes of silence, the king stood up again. He bent his knees and got into a solid stance. He made a gesture with his arms and hands, like he was pushing the crowd away from the middle of the arena. The ground shook, the arena was divided in two halves and in the middles of the arena a chasm formed. The king was using earthbending to separate the crowd into two smaller groups.

"The left group may leave, the Avatar is not among them." Batu said.

The two groups of people didn't know what to do, they did not know which group king Batu meant.

"Sire, which group would that be, the group on your left, or the group on their left." a guard asked.

"Who is the most important person in this room?" Batu answered cryptically.

"Ah, of course sire, I get it." the guard said. "Remove that group!" he yelled pointing at the group at the left side of king Batu.

Ilu was relieved to hear they could leave and pulled her husband with her to go home as fast as they could.

"No, not that group! The other group!" the king yelled.

"But sire, you said…"

"I'm not the most important person here, the Avatar is and I know he among the people in that group." Batu explained.

Ilu bowed her head, her fear returned.

"Now remove those who can't walk or crawl!" the king commanded. "The Avatar must be old enough now to at least be able crawl."

A lot of families walked away now, ten families were left.

'There weren't much births this year in my kingdom… that makes everything a lot easier. I heard Taku was overwhelmed with newborns.' Batu thought. He beckoned his servant to lead him to the next chamber, there he sat back on his throne and the ten families were lead before him.

"In this room," king Batu started, "you can see several statues. Most of them are of heroes from our past. Set your children free and let them walk, or crawl, freely through this room. We will soon know who the Avatar is."

The ten families, one of them being Sui and his wife Ilu, were puzzled. Was this the test? Children crawling through a large hall with statues, while the King of Omashu was watching them?

"Let your children be free!" the king commanded and the parents released their children. There was only one boy that could walk and he ran towards the king and climbed on his lap. The guards wanted to interfere, but the king shooed them away.

After five minutes, the children were starting to get tired. Each of them sat down near a statue. Those that shined the most or those that were the most outstanding had the most children sitting next to them, but the king only saw nine children, one child was missing.

"Where is Kukuh?" Sui whispered.

"Where is your son?" the king asked only a second after Sui had asked his wife the same question.

"There." Ilu said as she pointed to the small boy who sat in a far corner of the hall. He was playing with something.

The old king smiled as he lifted the small boy in his hands. Kukuh had been playing with a small statue of clay.

"Behold!" the king said, raising his voice. Ilu felt like her heart stopped beating. "Your new Avatar!"

"No!" Ilu screamed in denial, frantically shaking her head. "It can't be my boy!" Tears welled from her eyes.

King Batu handed the boy to his father and approached the weeping woman.

"The test has proven him to be the one. He was the only child in this room to feel the power of this small statue, a statue of Damai Tenang. Only the Avatar is able to sense its power." the king explained. "I don't understand why you aren't proud of your son."

"I don't want my boy to get in danger," she answered in between two sobs.

The king pondered on this answer for a few seconds, then he looked Ilu in the eyes and said: "The world is on the brink of a war and without the Avatar to guide us, everyone of us will be in great peril. Your son is the Avatar, he is the only one who can restore peace and keep us from harm. I understand how you feel, but if you keep your son from fulfilling his destiny, he and the rest of the world will certainly… fall. Give him the chance to do what is right, to save the world. He will put himself in danger, so the world may be spared. Give the death of our beloved Avatar Kali a meaning, I beg this of you."

Although it still hurt, Ilu realized ,after hearing Batu's wise words, her son's duty was too important to be forsaken.

King Batu continued speaking, this time he was stern and very serious.

"The Avatar may not know his true identity until he reaches the age of sixteen. He will return to his home village and be raised by his parents. When he comes of age he will come to Omashu and be trained here. I hope I will see the day of this young Avatar in training, although I severely doubt that." The old king saddened with those last words, he felt his life was coming to an end. "Although I might never see that day, I'm truly proud to have seen this new Avatar, hailing from my beloved kingdom. Let us hope that Avatar Kali's death will be avenged, may it be by his hand, or by another's." Batu turned towards Sui. "May I know the Avatar's name?"

"Kukuh," Sui answered.

"Excuse me?"

"His name is Kukuh, sire."

The old king blinked. "That's got to be the most unusual name I've ever heard…" he mumbled. "Well then… Avatar Kukuh, may he make Avatar Kali proud." He raised his voice and exclaimed: "Long live the Avatar!"

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**Batu, like Bumi, is king of Omashu and means stone**

**Umh... oh yeah, next chapter will jump forward a few years (not gonna say how many)**

**I hope you enjoyed reading and please review on your way out.**


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